The body mass index, or BMI for short, shows you whether your weight matches your height. Use our free BMI calculator to quickly find out whether your weight is within the normal range or whether you are too heavy or too light. Depending on the outcome, this may have an impact on your health.
BMI is calculated using a mathematical formula. Take the weight in kilograms and divide it by the height in meters squared.
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Just type your body mass into the BMI calculator and get the result immediately. |
The BMI is a simple method of estimating your own body weight in relation to other factors and is a rough guide to answering the following questions:
Depending on the result of the BMI calculator, you belong to one of these six groups according to the BMI table:
Every person has an individual body composition that the BMI does not take into account. However, the proportion of muscle and fat tissue plays a role in estimating weight, as do age and gender. It is best to consult a professional after an initial assessment of your weight with the BMI calculator.
A few kilos too much on the scale does not mean that you will immediately become ill. However, being overweight increases the risk of certain diseases in the long term. These include:
Being underweight can lead to poor concentration, bone loss(osteoporosis), disorders of the immune system (susceptibility to infections) and infertility in the long term.
If your body weight is outside the normal weight range (underweight or overweight), you should seek advice from a specialist at least once. This way you can see if you should take measures to change your weight.
If you are very preoccupied with your eating behavior, this may indicate an eating disorder. Several types of eating disorders are distinguished, such as anorexia, bulimia, atypical eating disorders, or binge eating. Here, too, we recommend consulting with a specialist.
In the obesity consultation, we care for patients who are overweight. We discuss individualized nutrition and exercise measures and evaluate surgical operations.
The Center for Eating Disorders offers a variety of therapeutic options to help you deal with eating problems.
The individual physique is not included in the BMI calculation. However, the ratio between muscle and fat tissue as well as fat distribution are also important characteristics for correctly estimating body weight.
Muscles are tightly built and take up less space on the body with the same weight than fat. Therefore, a trained person can look slim and have no health risks even though the BMI is high. On the other hand, the weight of a lighter, untrained person with high fat content can already harm their health.
Fat distribution on the body plays a role when it comes to its impact on health. Fat around the internal organs in the abdomen (visceral fat) is more damaging than fat just under the skin (subcutaneous fat). Waist-to-hip ratio is a measure used to evaluate fat distribution.
The BMI calculator and the corresponding evaluation according to weight classes are valid from the age of 18, other guidelines apply for children. With increasing age, the BMI may be somewhat higher, but care should still be taken to keep weight gain as low as possible.
Although the body mass index (BMI) is calculated in the same way for men and women, the assessment of the values differs slightly. Men generally have more muscle mass than women, which is why their body fat percentage is often lower with the same BMI. Women tend to have a higher percentage of body fat, especially around the hips and thighs. Women can therefore have a higher body fat percentage than men with the same BMI. For women, a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal, while a range of 20 to 25 is considered normal for men.
Because fat distribution is important for health risk, the waist-to-hip ratio is also often used. The waist circumference is divided by the hip circumference. A value above 0.8 in women and 0.9 in men indicates abdominal obesity, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The Body Roundness Index (BRI) is another innovative health indicator that assesses body shape based on height and waist circumference.
As the University Center for Obesity and Metabolic Surgery, we offer comprehensive and holistic care to patients suffering from severe overweight/obesity and related metabolic diseases.
As a university center for eating disorders (ZES), we offer patients suffering from anorexia (anorexia nervosa), bulimia, binge eating and/or other atypical eating disorders comprehensive care in an inpatient, day clinic and outpatient setting.
